LEXUS RZ

From the brand that dares to be different, a new car like no other in the UK

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The Lexus RZ, when it was launched in 2022, never made quite the impact its maker hoped it would. The Lexus-typical road manners were there all right, but the underlying EV technology was only just on the pace, and as alternatives have continued to flood into the market, it has left the first Lexus built on a dedicated electric platform as a bit-part player.

Which is why, only three years later, there was a considerable update to the RZ range. Battery capacity and therefore official range have increased. There have been improvements to the level of cabin isolation, building on an already impressive base. And there's now a range-topping 550e F Sport version, which becomes the only car currently on sale in the UK to not have a steering column. We will come to the steering yoke and simulated gearshifts in a moment.

Lexus is also dropping the asking price of the RZ. The basic 350e sees a 10% cut, meaning it now starts at a little over £48,000. Meanwhile, the 375bhp four-wheel-drive 500e falls 5% to around £65,000. The newly introduced 550e F Sport, which is the model we test here, costs £71,000 in lavish Takumi trim, but also packs more than 400bhp.

So the RZ range has quite a bit of breadth, and its physical footprint means it can conceivably be considered a rival to everything from the Volvo EX40 to the BMW iX.

What we will discover here is how well it fares today at the upper ends of its remit: as a luxurious, sporting, innovative electric crossover with plenty of mechanical interest to it.

DESIGN & ENGINEERING

PROS Interesting driver-related tech; reasonably light in the class

CONS Battery capacity remains underwhelming; not all that elegant